Outboard motorboat transom



y 8, 1962 J. W. NELSON ETAL 3,033,153

OUTBOARD MOTORBOAT TRANSOM Filed Jan. 7, 1960 INVENTOR JACK w. NELSON and DAV/D L. NEYPL-NNY BY V ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,033,153 OUTBOARD MOTORBOAT TRANSOM Jack W. Nelson, 9012 Rosemary Ave., Atfton, Mo., and David L. Moneypenny, 37 Clark St., Westerly, R.I. Filed Jan. 7, 1960, Ser. No. 1,141 6 Claims. (Cl. 11517) (Granted under Title 35, US. Code (1952), see. 266) This invention relates to outboard motorboats and similar craft and particularly to a transom or transom plate upon which outboard motors may be mounted.

In the variety of transom designs in use today, one or more of the following disadvantages may be encountered.

Transoms are subject to wear and consequent weakening of the transom itself with resultant risk of loss of the attached motor. Transoms in use today are subject to horizontal slippage of the motor causing the motor to become otf center with resultant loss of efiiciency and impaired steering. Some transoms in use today permit vertical slippage of the mounted motor which in some cases results in the motor jumping off the transom. Many transom plates are constructed so that only certain types and sizes of motors can be attached and other motors in the market cannot be mounted thereon without adaptthe transom plate to the particular motor.

An object of the present invention is to provide a transom or transom plate which will retain an outboard motor at the centerline or, if two or more motors are involved, will retain each at its desired position minimizing horizontal slippage.

A further object is to provide a transom or transom plate which will counteract the tendency of vibration to cause a mounted motor to walk along its mounting transom.

A further object is to provide a transom or transom plate which will prevent the attached outboard motor from flying off the transom in a substantially vertical direction.

A further object is to provide a transom plate construction or attachment to an ordinary transom which will resist wear or protect the original boat transom.

A further object is to provide a transom or transom plate which may receive the wide variety of outboard motors in use today without any need for changes in the transom or plate.

A further object is to provide a transom structure accomplishing all of the above objects by a construction which is inexpensive and easy to manufacture.

These and other objects and advantages will appear in the following description, drawings, and claims.

We illustrate our invention in the accompanying drawings which form a part of the specification. Like reference characters indicate like parts in the several views.

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view showing, as a preferred embodiment, a transom plate attached to a portion of a boat transom.

FIGURE 2 is a front elevation.

FIGURE 3 is a base plan view.

FIGURE 4 is a side elevation.

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of a preferred form of the invention attached to the transom of a motorboat which is partially broken away.

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view of a typical outboard motor mounted on a transom plate of the preferred form which, in turn, is attached to the transom of a motorboat which is partially broken away.

FIGURES 7 and 8 are perspective views of alternative embodiments of the invention.

Reference now being had to the details of the drawings, the boat 1 of FIGURE 5 has, at the stern, a conventional transom 2. Attached to the transom 2 is a 3,033,153 Patented May 8, 1962 plate 3 shown in all figures. This plate 3 may be attached to the transom 2 by means of screws or bolts 4.

The plate 3 may be constructed of a good grade of aluminum, brass, alloy steel, or any other suitable material, but we prefer cast aluminum because of its lightness and durability and have found it entirely suitable, even for use in saltwater, if the quality of the aluminum is sufiiciently high.

Variations in size and shape, within the scope of the invention, are many, but a form of the invention illustrated by FIGURES 1 through 6, which form of the invention we favor, has been found to be entirely satisfactory, accepting all known outboard motor mounting clamps on motors up to 70 horsepower and providing all of the advantages claimed for this invention, with the following plate dimensions and characteristics which are to be taken, in no way, as limiting the invention we claim. (A plate for boats intended to accommodate more powerful outboard motors as well as smaller motors may be made slightly larger.) The plate we have used was 11 /8 inches wide from point 5 to point 6, or from point 7 to point 8, or from point 9 to point 10, or from point 11 to point 12. The plate may be 4% inches in height, i.e., from points 7 to 5, 11 to 9, 8 to 6, or 12 to 10. We have used a plate A of an inch deep at the side edges (from points 9 to 5, 11 to 7, 10 to 6, or 12 to 8). In our preferred embodiment, the thickest part of the plate, between points 13 and 14, as 1 inch. The centerline depth at the base of the plate, from point 15 to point 16, is but slightly over A of an inch.

It can be seen from FIGURES 3 and 4 that the angle between the line 15-14 and the plane of the after face of the plate 9101211 approximates 5 degrees. Furthermore, it can be seen from FIGURE 1 that the angle between the lines 514 or 614 and the plane of the after face of the plate 9101211 also is approximately of the order of 5 degrees. It necessarily follows that in our preferred embodiment the angle 5 -14-6 approximates degrees. The angle along the foreward edge of the base 7158 in the embodiment here discussed is but slightly less than degrees.

The approximate dimensions and angles of the preferred embodiment should be kept in mind when reading the claims We make herein in order, generally, to understand our use of the terms relatively thick and relatively thin although we should not be understood to be limiting the scope of our invention thereby to the exact dimensions given.

With the plate 3 attached to the transom 2, the motor 17 is lifted into position. The clamps 18 are on either side of the centerline 13-1415--16 of the plate 3. The swivel head 19 of the clamps 18 fall on the two forward angled or tapered faces of the plate 3 when the means 20 for tightening the clamps 18 are turned. The motor will then be well centered about the centerline of the plate and the inclined plane effects of the plate will lock the motor in place against horizontal movement and against upward movement. Some taper of the plate in both directions is present at all points where the two swivel heads 19 of the clamps 20 may fall in varying constructions of outboard motors. Consequently any craft equipped with a plate such as here described or a motor mount constructed in accordance with our invention will be equipped to handle the wide variety of outboard motors manufactured without the necessity of altering the plate or transom or moving the plate on the transom.

FIGURE 7 illustrates one of a large variety of plate or transom designs which can be made in accordance with the invention. In this illustration, the plate 3 is thinner at 3 the centerline 13--14--15--16 than at the sides, 68 1012 and -7-9-11 while still being thicker at the top than at the base. A thin edge 21 is provided to facilitate attachment to the transom of a boat by screws or bolts 4 should a plate design, rather than an integrated transom design, be chosen.

In an embodiment such as is illustrated by FIGURE 7 the depth at the centerline of the base 15-16 may be something of the order of /1 of an inch. The depth at the upper center of the plate 1314 may be approximately 1 inch. The upper outer edges 9-5 and 1i)6 should then be of a depth of the order of 1% inches and the lower outer edges 128 and 11-7 should be approximately 1 inch thick.

FIGURE 8 illustrates a rounded embodiment of the invention.

It will be readily seen that a transom may be constructed with the features of this invention built into it, or a plate can be constructed for attachment to conventional transoms. It will be seen that, illustrating the varieties of uses of the invention with the example of a plate, the plate may be attached to the inside of the transom or to the outside of the transom, or to both sides of a transom. Furthermore, the plate may be rounded or angular. The plate may be concave or convex. One plate may be at the centerline for use with one motor or two or more may be positioned to accommodate two or more motors at the positions favored for their mounting. Lastly, motor mounts constructed in accordance with this invention may be used with all manner of craft requiring the use of an outboard motor such as sailboats, canoes, catamarans, rafts, and the like.

Having thus described illustrative structures embodying our invention, but intending in no way to be limited to the structural details thereof.

We claim as our invention:

1. A plate for mounting an outboard motor comprising substantially vertically disposed faces, such faces tapering from a relatively thick upper portion to a relatively thin lower portion thereof and such faces tapering between the centerline thereof and the outer portions thereof.

2. A plate for mounting an outboard motor comprising substantially vertically disposed faces, such faces tapering from a relatively thick upper portion to a relatively thin lower portion thereof, and such faces tapering outward from the centerline thereof so that any point at the centerline is of a thickness different from that at any point on a horizontal line outward from the centerline.

3. A transom plate for an outboard motorboat adapted to position the outboard motor or motors at a desired horizontal position or at desired horizontal positions along the transom plate, comprising forward and after surfaces, such surfaces disposed so that the substantially vertical centerline position of a single motor boat or the substantially vertical areas at the centerlines of the motor mounting points in multi-motor boats are thicker than horizontally surrounding areas of the transom plate and so that the upper areas of the transom plate are thicker than any points substantially vertically lower on said transom plate.

4. A transom plate for an outboard motorboat adapted to position the outboard motor or motors at a desired horizontal position or at desired horizontal positions along the transom plate, comprising forward and after surfaces, such surfaces disposed so that the substantially vertical centerline position of a single motor boat or the substantially vertical areas of the centerlines of the motor mounting points in multi-motor boats are thinner than horizontally surrounding areas of the transom plate and so that the upper areas of the transom plate are thicker than any points substantially vertically lower on said transom plate.

5. A transom plate for an outboard motorboat comprising substantially vertically disposed faces, such faces tapering from a relatively thick center portion to relatively thin side portions thereof, and said faces tapering from a relatively thick upper portion to a relatively thin lower portion thereof.

6. A transom plate for an outboard motorboat comprising substantially vertically disposed faces, such faces tapering from a relatively thin center portion to relatively thick side portions thereof, and said faces tapering from a relatively thick upper portion to a relatively thin lower portion thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,660,385 Moran Nov. 24, 1953 

